1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an improved hockey stick blade, and, more particularly, relates to a blade for a hockey stick which employs a novel flexible foam tip to reduce the risk of stick-related injuries.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hockey sticks, today and in the past, are well known for causing a significant number of eye injuries and skin lacerations. While hockey is known for being a very physical sport, many such injuries are inadvertently caused when the tip of the stick blade contacts another player. The conventional hockey stick has a rigid blade with sharp corners at the front or toe end of the blade. The upper tip or corner of the toe is the leading edge of the blade and consequently accounts for most of these injuries. Accordingly, a softer and more resilient tip would substantially reduce the number and severity of eye injuries and face lacerations sustained in the sport and would be highly welcomed at all levels of hockey from pee wee to professional.
Several devices are contemplated in the background art for improving hockey sticks. However, they have received little acceptance. Such devices typically involve cumbersome attachments or alterations that change the blade's dimensions and/or puck handling characteristics or which violate strict dimensional requirements imposed by various sanctioning bodies. For example, Cote, U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,932, teaches a hockey stick having a wedge inserted between laminations at the end of the blade so that the front surface of the blade is curved and the rear surface is straight. Not only is the Cote blade unduly expensive to manufacture, such a configuration weakens the rigidity of the blade and undoubtedly has a marked effect on its handling characteristics. Dubreuil, U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,451, discloses a hockey stick blade pad which is made from a semi-rigid material and covers the entire toe end of the blade from the top edge to the bottom edge. This arrangement is likewise undesirable because the pad material interferes with stick handling, tip-ins and the like. De Meza, Canadian Patent 698,375, discloses a hockey stick blade tip fabricated from a foamed rubber or plastic that is taped or glued to the top portion of the hockey stick blade. This structure is also unwelcomed in that the shield is not adequately affixed to the blade for preventing dislodgement during play and the material used is subject to hardening under cold, wet conditions. Another protective blade covering is disclosed by Gardner in U.S. Pat. No. 2,912,245, and it comprises a sleeve attachment for reinforcing the blade which covers the entire blade. Other hockey blade sleeves are disclosed by Profit in U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,990 and by Carbonero in U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,649. By way of contrast, the present invention employs a state of the art, lightweight, water-resistant, polyurethane foam that is permanently adhered to only the tip of the blade without requiring adhesives or altering the physical dimensions of the useful portions of the blade or interfering with its use.
The above noted background art neither solves nor addresses the problems contemplated by the present invention. There remains a need for a significant improvement in the hockey stick to reduce the incidence of serious eye injuries and face lacerations that occur with conventional blade design, without interfering with the player's performance. The present invention solves these problems by improving the tip of the blade while maintaining the blades preferred structure.